Holding Space for Healing
Edith’s Journey as a Volunteer Counsellor
For Edith Medell, being a volunteer counsellor at Rape Crisis is not just about listening. It is about holding space for stories that carry both immense pain and incredible strength. Every survivor she meets teaches her something new about courage, resilience, and the quiet power of healing.
“When someone sits across from you and shares what they have survived, you realise that healing is not a destination,” Edith says. “It is a journey made up of many small moments. Moments of truth, of vulnerability, and of courage.”
Edith has been a volunteer counsellor for several years, offering free, confidential support to survivors of sexual violence. She describes her role as one that demands both empathy and presence. “It is not about having all the answers,” she explains. “It is about being willing to listen, to see someone in their pain, and to remind them that they are not alone.”
One of the most powerful lessons she has learned in her time with Rape Crisis is that resilience is not just about bouncing back. It’s about bouncing forward, learning, growing, and rebuilding a sense of self even after deep harm. “Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage,” Edith says. “It is never weakness.”
She has seen how survivors often doubt their strength, especially in a world that can be harsh and dismissive of their pain. “Finding your voice is a process,” she says. “A woman with a voice is a strong woman, but the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. Sometimes, we become the voice for the unspoken ones until they are ready to speak for themselves.”
For Edith, counselling is not only about emotional recovery. It is about restoring dignity and reminding survivors that they still have agency, worth, and power. “The counselling room becomes a space of rebuilding,” she explains. “You see people slowly start to believe in themselves again. You see them realise that what happened to them does not define who they are.”
Edith also believes that healing does not happen in isolation. It is a collective process that includes families, communities, and society at large. “When survivors heal, they begin to shift the energy around them. Their courage inspires others to confront silence, to speak up, and to build safer spaces for everyone.”
Every time she sees a survivor take one small step forward — whether it is coming to a second counselling session, sharing their story for the first time, or simply breathing a little easier — she feels a renewed purpose. “Healing is not just power,” Edith says. “It is hope.”
Her time at Rape Crisis has changed her deeply. It has shown her that compassion can be a form of resistance, and that showing up again and again with empathy and without judgement is one of the most radical things a person can do. “The work is hard,” she admits. “But every conversation reminds me that transformation is possible. Survivors teach me what real strength looks like. They remind me why I am here.”
For Edith, each session, each survivor, and each moment of connection is part of a larger story — one of rebuilding trust, nurturing healing, and restoring hope in a world that too often forgets how to care.
Written by
Jameelah Ebrahim
